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State of Health The Florida Hospital Blog

Reduce Stroke Risk with Chocolate

POSTED BY: Joe TownsendMay 8, 2013

Men, take note – according to a new study, you should be eating at least one bar of chocolate per week. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, a recent study in Sweden has shown that men who ate chocolate regularly had a lower risk of having a stroke.

The Swedish study followed over 37,000 men between ages 45 to 79 for approximately 10 years. Of these men, those who ate around 2.2 ounces of chocolate per week had lowered their risk of stroke by 17 percent.

To strengthen the study’s findings, the researchers compared their data from previous studies along with a similar study on women’s heart health. With the combined data, the researchers concluded that men and women who ate the most chocolate in the studies lowered their risk of stroke by 19 percent when compared to those who ate little to no chocolate.

What makes chocolate special?

The cocoa used to make chocolate has been known to carry properties that benefit heart health. Cocoa’s health benefits include increasing the amount of “good” cholesterol the body takes in as well as lowering blood pressure and improving the function of arteries. So it’s no surprise that chocolate can help lower stroke risk.

According to the experts, moderation is key.

Eating too much chocolate can lead to obesity – which can outweigh the chocolate’s heart health benefits.